oh namma bengaluru..

I love Bangalore! I am not a born Bangalorean, like most people I know, but just as well I fell in love with the place at first sight, 10 years ago.

When I first came here, it was a village, town and metropolis all rolled into one ...in its own unique concoction. The weather was perfect, the tree lined roads, lanes and back alleys were just heaven!

Those were the times of short hot and sunny days and long cool and pleasant evenings (brought on by a light drizzle that came with clockwork precision whenever it became uncomfortably hot).

Brigade street did not look like a sorry cousin of times square. 100 ft road in indira nagar had not yet discovered the brand brigade and CMH was not yet balding away like a middle aged man loosing his hair.

Malleswaram was quaint and affordable and RT nagar far from being the posh residential area that it now aspires to be.

Infact the old airport was practically outside the city and Kemp Fort was like Appu Ghar, meriting a special picnic style visit. Noone had yet imagined the new airport amidst the lush farmland.And here we are today, vast tree-less expanses and way too much traffic.

Oh namma Bengaluru!

For those yearning to see the good old days, you can get a glimpse here:http://www.discoverbangalore.com/oldbangalore.htm

oh sexy mamma.....

Did I miss some sort of cultural transformation/revolution/advancement? This song plays multiple times on my favored FM channel and so today I paid attention to the lyrics and was flabbergasted! When did it become okay to call someone’s, anyone’s mumma sexy? Have I become a member of some generation way too past? That scared me enough to go check out the lyrics online and to my immense relief they are oh sexy mamma as opposed to oh sexy ‘mumma’!

Now I’m no expert on any cultural nuances but I believe the context here is a young girl who is addressed in the manner of a desirable young lady in the tradition of black/negro (I’m not sure if that’s acceptable terminology) community’s language not in reference to bollywood cinemas’ maaaa.........While I write this in wonderment, a song plays in the background with lyrics to the effect marjani marjani khasmanu khani marjani…..i’m afraid to decipher anything beyond this point.

Now I’m as tolerant as the next human being but at what point in time did it become fashionable to use such language to the beat of a rock song? Apparently it’s famous enough to warrant censure from our garden variety religious fundamentalists. Not to forget that a certain community preferred not to be in the title of the same movie for some reason that is not entirely clear so far.

But I’m digressing…..whatever happened to lyrics? Good old days of music aside….did we run out of enough Hindi AND the queens’ English to come to this turn in bollywood music? No offence to lovers of either ditty, the music is definitely foot tapping but I’d rather clamp the years of my young nephew shut (coz he’s too young to know any better than dance away to the tune) than sing along.

Happy listening anyway…….